The clouding
by Tammy Two Paws
Summary: They think they know me. That I can't do anything wrong and is a ray of light in a normally dark life. I will show them just how wrong they are. Deceiving like a cloud so free and careless. Evil Naruto. M for content. No lemons, nor Yaoi, maybe fluff.
1. You don't know me

**AN: Welcome to my fourth story, and my third well-written one. The rewrite of 'A hanyous' greatest chance' is going VERY slow, so don't expect it in a while.**

**I will just give you, the reader(s), one tip about this story: DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING IS TRUE EXCEPT THE LIES! Did that make any sense to you? If no, then good.**

**On a better note; THE PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED! Well, at least the story editing problems. I don't know if the search engine still is under maintenance.**

**~Do I really have to do it? It kills me a little inside everytime I say it… aww, Okey then. *sigh* I STILL DON'T OWN ANY MANGA/ANIME/BOOK/GAME OR ANY THING AT ALL THAT IS MADE EXCEPT FROM THESE FAN-WRITTEN STORIES ON MY ACCOUNT! There, can I have my teddy back now?~**

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In an underground cave, far away from any ninja village, a group of konoha ninja was seen standing several feet in front of a crouched figure which wore a coat with red clouds, and an orange spiraling mask with just one eyehole.

The man, who he was identified by as such with his deep, gasping breaths, was the former leader of the now, fallen organization Akatsuki.

After a grueling war which lasted three months, which he lost, the man went into hiding into this cave, hoping that he wouldn't be found.

The man raised his masked head and stared at the ninjas ahead.

The copy-ninja Hatake Kakashi, slug-sannins' apprentice Haruno Sakura, wood-user Yamato, ink-user Sai, Newly instated clan-head Nara Shikamaru and the Kyuubi container Uzumaki Naruto.

He lost. Even with his time/space jutsu, he lost against this group. Even with eight of the nine bijuu at his command, he lost the war.

But he'll be damned if he's going to lose his life.

Kakashi stared upon the man which has caused countless amounts of lives to be lost. His emotions was mixed between a twist of anger, hatred, disgust, a bit of respect, and strangely enough, a bit of familiarity.

There was something about the man that tickled something in his brain. Though, he was not the only one who had the same feeling.

But that could wait until later.

Kakashi took a step forward and spoke with a voice full of authority.

"It's over Madara, you can't win." The others nodded in agreement.

The man, Madara, had finally got control over his breath again and did something unexpected when he rose.

He began to chuckle.

The Konoha team stared suspiciously toward the chuckling man, wondering what he found so funny.

He finally got control over his laughter and begun shaking his head from side to side.

"You really expect me to be beaten? Surely you should know by now that it is never that easy." He said, amusement clear in his voice, if a bit strained.

The team tensed while Sakura yelled towards him, the others circling the last of the Akatsuki.

"Look around you idiot, you're surrounded. There is no way for you to escape now."

Another chuckle left the man, but this time it wasn't the deep baritone voice that came. The voice was lighter, younger.

Familiar.

Kakashi and Sakuras' eyes widened, while at the same time their face paled, one thought screaming in their head.

'N-no. It-it can't be…'

The man shook his head again, his new voice echoing throughout the cave.

"You are a very stupid girl to believe that it's this easy to beat me."

Footsteps were the next sound. With a smirk on his face, Naruto went towards the clouded man.

"So, this is it then?" Came from the young blondes' mouth.

A nod was his response as the man raised his hand towards his mask.

"As a gift to you, I will show you who I really am."

Everyone tensed even more as his hand drifted closer, but the eyes of all the people present widened in fear of what happened next.

The moment he touched his mask, two things happened. The first was the fact that his hair turned from black to blonde, at the same time as it became spikier and more feral.

The second was that Naruto disappeared in a shroud of darkness.

The breath of all the people (except mister mask) was caught in their throats when the mask was removed. It fell towards the ground like in slow motion as his hand descended from his face. With a crash the mask shattered along with Konohas' beliefs.

A small grin was seen on his whiskered face. His eyes showed the insanity that he felt, but when Kakashi looked inside those blue-turned-red eyes, he saw the Kyuubi.

"How is this possible?" breathed Yamato as he stared upon the teen.

What he didn't expect was an answer.

"Minato Namikaze, the fourth hokage may have been the best OFFICIAL seal-master in the world, but that doesn't mean he's the best altogether. You'd be amazed what one can do with seals, and Madara Uchiha knew more about them than even the fourth did." Here, he took a breath as his grin widened. "But I know more than even Madara himself."

Sai snapped out the shock and charged towards Naruto, tanto drawn. He didn't move as Sai slashed at him.

At least not before Sai phased right through him and got a mule kick right in the middle of his spine. A resounding crack was heard before he was sent flying towards a wall, a crash sounding soon after.

"I found his work in the Uchiha district when I was five. His memos, journals, everything he had ever done, all that was in my possession. After I read just the first sentence I was mesmerized. His plans and thoughts, they were made by a pure genius. He planned everything." Here he stopped, glancing around at the ones who 'trapped' him.

He tsk-ed, his grin turning into a smirk as he began walking backwards towards Shikamaru. (They stand in 5-pronged star formation with Sakura at front and Sai WAS at her left.)

"You really don't think I will tell you that now, do you?" he said before he noticed he couldn't move.

Shikamaru stared at him, a blank look at his face.

"I knew there was something strange about you. The way you talked, how you acted, and the fact that you never did anything major during the war. Everytime there was a bijuu attack, you was mysteriously always busy with another mission with no way to contact you. I have only one question." Shikamaru moved so both he and the whiskered boy stared towards where the clone disappeared.

"What was that?"

He used a second to think before he got a 'fuck it' expression and said.

"You'll be surprised what one can do with seals. Ten gallons of human blood, enough flesh to make three full-grown men, Demon youkai and the soul of a newborn baby. The reason for all the blood and flesh is because most of it will be burned away because of the demon youkai. Heh, you have no idea how irritating it was to get all that blood without anyone noticing. You should know what you can do with a soul. After all, I have one sealed into myself."

At the last part, he grinned again before he broke loose from the shadow-binding and threw a smoke bomb at the floor, obscuring the sight from everyone.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa." A bullet of wind pierced through the smoke and made sight possible.

But it was too late. Naruto had already escaped with his space-transportation jutsu, making tracking him impossible.

Sakura ran over to Sai to check him over. What she saw wasn't pretty.

Blood was spilled everywhere, his face was crushed almost beyond recognition and bones were poking forth from both his arms and legs.

She knew, just knew before she checked that he was dead, but she didn't want to believe it. She checked his pulse and after not finding one, used a scanning jutsu on him.

His spine was shattered with several fragments piercing his heart and lungs, along with most of his ribs sticking out of his chest, one even went out his back.

She started shaking, eyes watering until she broke down crying, the shock of what just happened almost crushing her.

Kakashi wasn't far away, however, even though he had turned away from everyone, one could see an almost unnoticeable shaking in his body, and a drop of water impacting the cavern-floor.

Yamato sighed as he looked around, before something entered his mind.

"Where's Shikamaru?"

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**AND THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE START OF MY NEW STORY.**

**I will not spoil ANYTHING so don't expect to find any information about that in the ANs.**

**Hint 2: This fic is pure deception. More than that you will see later.**

**Now people, before you say that i hate Sai because i killed him, i will just say this. I do not hate Sai. I think he is a great character so please, don't hate me for this.**

**That's all.**


	2. Start anew (Re-write)

**AN: Welcome, my loyal minions, to the next chapter of The clouding.**

**YES, I KNOW! I HAVE BEEN FUCKING LAZY, BUT THE IMPORTANT PART IS THAT IT'S FINALLY DONE!**

**Just to make one thing clear, just in case. Naruto possesses neither the Sharingan nor the Rinnegan. Giving him Sharingan is simply too easy and Rinnegan is simply overkill. (And it would destroy the story.)**

**I have wondered for a while if I shall make this into a Naru/Shika fic... I'll stick with maybe. Just to make this clear: I do NOT want a million reviews saying 'OMG, MAKE IT NARU/SHIKA!' That will only make me drop the idea.**

**Note: This chapter has been re-written. The start and end is the same, nothing else.**

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A moment of shocked silence, then a sound was heard from where the copy-ninja stands.

A small smokescreen was in front of the man for a second before it disappeared to reveal a pack of dogs. Before the pack-leader could ask, Kakashi had already begun his hasty speech.

"Pakkun, find the smell of Shikamaru Nara now! It's an S-class priority. Sakura, you take Sai back to the Leaf."

The pug and girl nodded, then the search began.

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A grunt was heard as a body hit the ground with a 'thud'. A sigh was heard from the other person, quickly followed by a 'troublesome'.

Another grunt sounded when Naruto shakily began the attempt to stand.

"Well…*grunt* That was productive."

A lazy glare was his answer. With a sigh, Shikamaru went over to Naruto; put his arm around him, and with a 'hupp' helped him stand.

"What the hell happened Naruto, and where the hell are Kabuto and Zetsu?" Came from the shadow-ninja.

A growl echoed in the cave, the blonde-haired teens' eyes glowed red for a moment.

"Kabuto betrayed me. He sent his Impure Resurrected ninjas after me. I have never in my life been happier that I Found Madara's old journals. And then it's Zetsu. That Son of a bitch split up. The white side killed the black side, giving himself total control over his body. They left the moment the attack began." Another grunt and a cough filled the air as he miss stepped and almost fell.

A very slight sneer came to the Nara geniuses face.

"I warned you didn't I? I fucking told you, you son of a bitch, that they are not to be trusted, but did you listen to me? Nooooooooooo. *Sigh and grunt* Ah well, at least they can't find us." He ended, frowning.

A weak nod was the response before he began coughing again. This time with blood.

Shikamaru swore. What the fuck did they do to him? He shouldn't be in this bad of a condition, even after fighting Kabuto with his zombies and Zetsu at the same time.

"Dammit Naruto, WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO YOU?!" He hated not knowing. He had always hated ignorance, so seeing the only person he could without a doubt call a friend be in such a terrible condition without knowing how just made him even angrier.

They would pay for daring to hurt him.

"... I failed."

It took a moment for the words to reach his ears, a moment for the to register, and a moment for his brain to re-boot after having short-circuited at the words he never thought he would hear from the blonde.

"Where is it?"

"... They destroyed it, and the Bijuu are once again scattered. You have no idea how pissed Kyuubi is at me for failing... I... I underestimated them."

"We both did... Oh well, there's only one thing to do then." The lazy genius said, looking over at his limping friend whose breath had evened out once again.

"Yes... Let's try again... And if that fails, we'll try again and again, over and over again. Failure does not mean failing to progress... It will be hard though, finding another Rinnegan wielder."

"Heh, to think your 'never say die' attitude actually managed to infiltrate my lazy mind... But you're right, our element of surprise is gone, but at least we know the location of the eight-tails... Are you sure there are no other Uzumaki's running around?"

A grunt was his only answer as the blonde once again coughed, this time without blood though. 'Kyuubi's healing is truly remarkable.'

"I'm not sure, but there's a possibility that Sasuke's little girlfriend might be one. I haven't been able to garner a lot of information about her, but she apparently has a remarkable healing ability. That, and she had red hair, which is a seldom seen sight to be seen, even compared to blond. I don't think she's able to awaken it though. Apparently, she was one of Orochimaru's many experiments, and if that didn't bring it out, nothing will... Unless..."

Shikamaru couldn't help but shake his head, a small smirk entering his face at Naruto's words. He just knew the blonde was scheming something, a way to bring untold amounts of pain and suffering to the girl.

Talking about pain..

"You don't think it's somewhat like the Mangekyo Sharingan, do you? Extreme emotional pain coupled with an unimaginable amount of regret?"

The blonde nodded as they stopped walking, entering what looked like a small living room.

"That did cross my mind." He said, slowly sitting down on a chair as he winced, his wounds far from healed.

"Now, how to crush her feeble mind... Killing Sasuke wouldn't do it anymore, seeing as her infatuation with him has rapidly receded into nothing more than a recognition that he exists, she actually DOES dislike Suigetsu somewhat fierce, and she's most likely scared of Juugo more than anything else... This would have been so much easier if I could get it instead, but we both know that with our circumstances, it won't happen... Damn, we might actually be screwed on that front."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. The only one you actually like is me, and seeing as you can just resurrect me the moment you get the Rinnegan, you won't really regret it. That, and killing me aren't exactly the easiest thing to do nowadays."

"You don't say." The blonde muttered, staring off into space as his friends words barely registered. He knew that there was more from the Uzumaki lineage around, but it was also painfully obvious that none of the were ninja. He would have known if there was any Uzumaki ninja's running around seeing as he knew about basically every ninja that was currently in existence.

He couldn't help but frown, knowing that Madara was probably smirking mockingly at him from beyond the grave.

"I need to find the Uchiha's sacred stone. It's said to be in their compound, but not even I managed to find it, which means that only a Sharingan is able to find it... Damn, I knew I should have taken Shisui's eye before Danzo, but the bastard managed to get to him before me, and fuck fighting both Shisui and Itachi at the same time, that would be suicide back then..."

"Hmm, seems like the little avenger still has some use left, but then again, would you actually like having even one of that idiot's eyes in you?"

Naruto couldn't help but sigh, clutching his face with a hand, covering his right eye. There was few things Naruto actually loved about himself, but even he couldn't help but frown at the prospect of losing even one of his blue eyes. What could he say, he just likes them a lot.

"Losing my eyes... Yeah, not fond of that idea, and putting the bastard under an illusion won't work as he's just to damn arrogant and prideful of his Sharingan, which is evident as he flaunts it every chance he gets. He also has no reason to find the stone, so spying on him until he reveals it is pointless... Dammit, he's the only one with a Shari... Hatake..."

A nod came from the Nara as he had gotten them some coffee.

"He's an unstable element though, seeing as he has no Uchiha blood. There's an off-chance that one need both the Sharingan and the Uchiha blood to find it... Still, you have never explained to me exactly WHY this stone is important."

"To be honest, I have no freaking idea why it's important. The only thing I know is that Madara mentioned it in one of his notes, and that man NEVER wrote down anything unimportant." Naruto said, taking a sip of his coffee after his reasoning. He had never been a coffee person, but now he was just happy to have something to drink at all.

He still frowned though.

"I need to get stronger... I'm still far from Madara's strength, and we both know I exaggerated when it came to my sealing abilities, though I'm better than Jiraiya ever was. We can't recruit anymore S-rank ninja either, seeing as the countries are keeping a close eye out just in case anything extremely unusual happens... Damn, being an international villain sometimes has it's drawbacks."

Shikamaru gave a nod as he took a sip from the coffee, only for him to choke on it as his eyes grew wide.

"The compound!" He coughed out, being softly hit in the back by Naruto to ease his fit.

"What about it?"

"You said you found Madara's old journals in the compound! They're probably going to search everywhere inside it just in case they find more of them, which means that they are probably going to use Kakashi due to his Sharingan and summonings!"

"Which means that stalking Kakashi might give us fortuitous results... Heh, seems like he's still useful after all."

Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk as he looked at the man he honestly could say he admired somewhat.

"Not even twenty minutes after our defeat, we are starting anew... Troublesome, but exciting, I kinda like that combination."

Naruto returned the smirk as he held out his hand.

"Yes, and once again I will ask for your co-operation. Will you help me?"

Shikamaru grabbed the hand with his own as he stood up from his chair, a grin on his face as he stared into Naruto's eyes.

"Always."

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The fifth Hokage was, by the very definition of the word, beautiful. Of course, anyone who said that to her would receive a chakra-enhanced punch that probably could take of their head if she tried. Strangely enough though, it was not widely known that her youthful appearance came from a special technique of hers.

Said beautiful, but deadly woman was now sitting behind her desk, staring out the window at the village.

She was one of the three legendary ninja, the slug-sage Tsunade Senju. In her own mind though, she thought that she didn't deserve the title of sage. That title belonged to Jiraiya and, begrudgingly enough, Orochimaru.

She had never learned how to harness and control natural chakra, nor has she ever been in the realm of the slug summons.

Sage... The word actually confused her somewhat.

Exactly what constitutes a sage? Instantly her mind came up with wisdom, which is something she whole-heartedly admitted she lacked. Then there was power, which is something she had. After all, she IS the strongest female ninja in existence at the moment, though she was sure that it wasn't long before Sakura would become stronger than she was in her prime. Give the girl five years maximum, and she could wipe the floor with young Tsunade.

After that, her mind drew a blank. She would have said knowledge, but she believes that wisdom and knowledge was two sides of the same coin, so she dismissed that.

Wisdom. She smiled a bit at that thought.

There was three people she knew of that was wise. The first was her deceased Sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage. At his prime he was a man to be feared, and his alias as 'The Professor' fit him like a glove. His plans was remarkable, his speeches inspirational, and his beliefs admirable. One couldn't help but be enamored when he spoke about the Will of fire, and he did everything in his power to find a peaceful solution to everything.

The second was her deceased team-mate and love Jiraiya. Yes, she admitted it, she loved Jiraiya. Despite his idiocy and perverted nature, she loved him. The man was a genius, a man greater than anyone else, and held experience and wisdom that no man his age should ever have had. He had done so much for the village, and his goal of making true peace seemed possible every time he spoke. He spoke with such conviction that one simply couldn't help but believe in him.

The last wise person she knew about was someone younger than her. She didn't know when she started to admire this person, but this boy. No, this man was special. Naruto Uzumaki, the name that brought a smile to everyone's face.

If Jiraiya was the one speaking about peace, then the teen was the incarnation of peace. The boy was special, and it's not only because of Kyuubi. He could worm himself inside anyone's heart, and with a mere few words, he could change a persons belief completely. She had both heard about it and experienced it. After all, he's the one that made her smile again, the one that helped her emotional wounds heal, and the one that gave her hope.

Her smile dipped though, despite all these uplifting memories.

He had changed.

It was obvious to everyone. The war had taken it's toll on the boy like the previous wars had done to previous generations. He was still Naruto, yet his outgoing personality had dampened. It was probably just a question of when he would become more like his father, but the change was rather... abrupt.

She could see it in his eyes too, the way he looked around. Calculative, wary, experienced and paranoid. The look of a person ready for everything at a moments notice. Then again, when she thought back, he had always had a wary glance in his eyes thanks to his isolated past. The war had just intensified the look.

The boy had let his hair grow a bit, the hair at his back now reaching a tiny bit past his shoulders while his bangs framed his face a bit better, giving him a bit more mature look. He still wore his orange clothes, but he also wore that red cloak of his, showing his status as a sage. She had to admit that it looked good on him.

What worried her though was that Naruto had seemed to distance himself from his friends, almost isolating himself when he wasn't out on a mission. She knew the symptoms though. The boy was in a mild state of shock, the war messing up his mind a bit. Yet, despite this, his track-record during the war was flawless. She let him be, thinking that he only needed a bit of time to accept everything.

She just hoped he didn't become a new Kakashi, because that would annoy her.

The war was won though, she just knew it. Over the three months the war had lasted, the amount of attacks Tobi, Madara or whoever he really was had diminished, almost becoming non-existent.

The first month though was a nightmare.

The attacks from seven of the nine tailed beasts destroyed many villages, and they almost halved their forces. They managed to stop them though, and the one who found out how to do it still surprised her.

The method was found out by none other than the eight-tails container. Kirabi, also known as Killer Bee was one of the few demon-holders who had ever managed to befriend their demon, and the eight-tails theory was nothing short of pure coincidence.

Chakra rods similar to the ones Pein used controlled the beasts. The old hosts was resurrected and used as a device to control the beasts power while the rods was used to control their minds. They were only mildly surprised seeing one of the earlier hosts of Shukaku, seeing as Tobi didn't have Gaara's body.

She sighed as she took a drink. The resurrected ninja's was a bigger problem though.

She was snapped out of the musing as the door was thrown open, a near-hysterical chuunin bursting in.

"Lady Tsunade, there's an emergency at the western gate!"

"What emergency? Are we under attack?"

"No my lady, it's Lady Sakura, she-"

The man was cut-off when leaves began circling the room, the aforementioned pink-haired chuunin appearing in the middle of it, a person slung over her shoulders.

"Lady Tsunade!" She panted out, instantly collapsing on her knees as she lost her grip on Sai. The Hokage jumped over her desk faster than they could see and was instantly at the boy's side, her hands scanning him with a somewhat desperate look on her face.

"Sakura, what the hell happened!" 'The boy's already dead.'

The girl choked on a sob as she panted, trying to regain her breath after having shunshin'd across the entire country. Even she with her perfect chakra control and above-average amount of chakra had almost fainted due to chakra exhaustion.

"He killed him... H-He killed him Lady Tsunade..." She broke down crying, not even caring about keeping up a tough image in front of her teacher and leader. She just couldn't hold it in anymore.

The slug-sage could only lean back as she closed her eyes, her right hand massaging her face as she tried her best not to crush everything around her.

"Damn you Tobi." She whispered, her anger clear in her voice.

"NO!" Tsunade jumped up at her apprentice's scream. She stared at the girl, and she was honestly confused at what she saw. She looked crushed, hopeless... Betrayed.

"Tobi didn't do it... Tobi didn't... Didn't..." She rambled on, her eyes still leaking tears as she murmured to herself.

"SAKURA, get a hold of yourself!" The old lady yelled, grabbing the younger woman's shoulders in an effort to calm her down.

"Sakura, what happened? Who did this? Where... Where is Naruto?" She whispered, dreading the answer as she saw the girl flinch at the mere mentioning of the blondes name.

It couldn't be possible. Tobi couldn't have taken him, Naruto was to strong for that! Naruto was too... He was too stubborn to be taken, too unpredictable, too...

Too loved.

"N-Naruto... Naruto he..." She sobbed, shaking even more as she couldn't look her master in the eyes.

'No... It's not possible.' Tsunade thought, her eyes tearing up at the mere thought.

Her last hope, her last will to live had...

"N-Naruto he... NARUTO KILLED SAI! HE KILLED SAI TSUNADE, HEBETRAYED US!" The girl screamed hysterically, her world crumbling apart around her as reality seeped through the cracks.

The Hokage could only do one thing.

A yell emanated from her throat as she punched her desk through the wall, out in the air where it hit a random bird before it crashed into the ground outside the village, a random deer having been scared of by the desk that landed mere centimeters beside it.

"WHAT?!"


	3. Assembling Allies, part 1

**AN: Holy shit, a new chapter for this story! And I wrote it early in the week! I might actually be able to write a chapter for two stories for once...**

**Just a quick notice, chapter two has been re-written.**

**LET'S START!**

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A sigh escaped Tsunade's lips as the doors behind her closed themselves.

She had called for a meeting with the five kages, and even she had to shake herself from the shock of how fast they answered the call.

There had only been two meetings between them during the war, one was held as Tobi... No, as Naruto started the fourth world war, and the second meeting was held after they had defeated the last of the tailed beasts.

Naruto... She just couldn't fathom what went through his mind. Was this some kind of sick joke of his, pretending to be an international villain? If that was the case, then she had to say that the joke fucking sucked.

Why did he reveal himself? Why did he drop the mask of Madara when he most likely could have escaped without removing the veil of confusion around him? Was it a feeble, but effective method to gain time to execute his technique? She had heard the report from both Yamato, Sakura and Kakashi, and what she learned shocked her more than she believed possible.

Madara Uchiha was a genius even when compared to the first Hokage. He might have been weaker when it came to ninja skills, but his intellect far out-shined her grandfather's. To even gain a small glimpse inside his insane, but all-knowing mind would be a tremendous gift to anyone, and Naruto had gained more than that.

He said he found Madara's journals. She had heard stories about what was written in them by her grandfather. The ramblings of a mad man, the wisdom of a sage far older than him, theories and techniques that most people couldn't even begin to understand. He had basically written down most of his life, his accomplishments, his dreams, his goals, his plans, and Naruto was the one to discover them after over 70 years.

How much did the boy actually know? Just what did he learn from the third strongest human in history? To be able to instantly teleport to any location, and to make oneself intangible was something most people could only dream about. According to Kakashi, the Sharingan technique known as Kamui had similar properties, yet the boy didn't use a Sharingan during their encounter, signaling that the boy either was a remarkable seal-master, or knew a seal-less technique that mimicked Kamui.

She could have sworn that she saw a Sharingan in the eye-hole of the mask when he declared war upon the nations, but she wouldn't be surprised if the boy had made some seals that altered his appearance. They had recovered the mask that Naruto left behind, but there was nothing special about it. She would have quirked a smile at the orange color if not for the severity of the situation.

"Lady Tsunade?"

She was snapped out of her musings by one of her guards. She turned towards Gai, the one who had broken her concentration, noticing that the man signaled towards the table where the four other kages sat.

"The meeting is about to begin."

She could only give a terse nod as she sat down in her seat, staring at the other leaders as they sat around a horseshoe shaped table, the leader of Iron country sitting between the two tips of the table, acting as the mediator for this meeting, just like he had during the other meetings.

"Lady Hokage." Mifune, the mediator said. "May I ask why you decided to call for this session?"

"You may... I asked for this session because of some news that will bring both delight and dread to this assembly."

"Give us the good news first then. That way, we can better focus on whatever problems you want to discuss." Onoki, the Tsuchikage said in his grumpy voice. Apparently he didn't like leaving his village on such a short notice.

"Fine." She said, holding in the sigh that wanted to escape.

"The war is over. We won."

A silence ensued as everyone tried to register the words she uttered. Strangely enough, the first to react was the Raikage, a large man named A, and his reaction was as expected. The man stood up faster than the bodyguards could register, and continued to smash his fist on the table, breaking the table in two.

"THAT'S BULLSHIT HOKAGE! ONLY LESS THAN A WEEK AGO, WE FOUGHT THOSE DAMN RESURRECTED NINJA'S OF THAT MASKED BASTARD!"

"Exactly. Not a day went by without us being attacked by them, but the attacks suddenly stopped five days ago... A specialized team of mine managed to breach his hideout thirteen hours ago, and according to the report they gave, the man was already gravely injured by the time we found him. That, coupled with the facts that neither Zetsu, Kabuto or the resurrected ninja's was there and defended him shows that he was betrayed by them. The moment that happened, he lost the war..."

The Raikage stood there, gritting his teeth before taking a deep breath as he sat down, a hand rubbing his face as a somewhat relieved expression formed.

"So my brother is finally safe..."

"Lady Hokage." Gaara, the fifth Kazekage got the attention of everyone as he addressed the fire shadow. "You said there was some bad news too, so I will guess that Tobi managed to escape. I will also guess that you already have several hunter-teams out there looking for him... I do have a question though."

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki? I would have expected him to be one of your bodyguards, seeing as this would have been an invaluable learning experience for him when he takes the title of Hokage from you."

"You are correct, he escaped, and we are looking for him." She said before pursing her lips, a pained expression crossing her face as she closed her eyes.

"Lady Tsunade... What happened to Naruto?" The red-headed Kazekage couldn't help but let his worries be heard through his voice.

Don't say he has lost his best friend. Don't say he lost the man he admired.

Instead of answering, Tsunade reached into her green coat, pulling out a familiar swirly orange mask, small cracks visible even after the repair job.

"Tell me Gaara, does anything about this mask seem... Odd, to you?"

In any other situation, Gaara would almost instantly have said no, thinking that the mask was nothing more than that, a mask. Now though, he sat there, intensely staring at the mask, his brain trying its best to put together the pieces.

Slowly the red-head stood up before he walked over to the Hokage. Standing beside the woman, he slowly lifted the mask closer to his face, his free hand slowly but surely following the natural swirly marks on the orange mask. The look on his face was one of pure concentration before something in his eyes shifted.

"What is the meaning of this travesty? Has your village not done enough to tarnish his name throughout the years?" Only two people in the room was able to pick up the minute amount of killer intent he emanated, and that was solely because of the fact that they had spent several years feeling that daily.

"Gaara, what do you mean?" His sister Temari said, her hand on his shoulder as she felt his killer intent spike for a moment before mellowing out.

"Before you say anything else Gaara, maybe you should listen to this." Tsunade said, once again reaching inside her coat to bring out a record-player.

"I instructed Kakashi and Yamato to both have tape-recorders with them, just in case the man spilled any interesting information in the slim chance that he managed to escape... Just... Just listen." She said, putting down the player before starting it, her hands shaking just a tiny bit.

"_It's over Madara, you can't win."_

"_Heheh, You really expect me to be beaten? Surely you should know by now that it is never that easy."_

"_Look around you idiot, you're surrounded. There is no way for you to escape now."_

"_Hahahah, you are a very stupid girl to believe that it's this easy to beat me."_

"_So, this is it then?"_

"_As a gift to you, I will show you who I really am."_

"_... How is this possible?"_

Here she stopped the tape, her eyes closed as she tried her hardest to hold in her emotions.

"The fourth, fifth and sixth piece of dialogue was spoken by two different people, but they both sound the same... You should know by now what I was referring to when I asked if there was something odd about the mask."

"That... That's impossible..." The Mizukage Mei Terumi said, her left hand covering her mouth as she and everyone else looked considerably paler.

"Never underestimate me, nothing is impossible, I will change this world... Heh. Somehow, it feels like he was giving us clues all along. This mask here being the primary clue. He was practically taunting us with it. Orange, and a swirly design... His favorite color, and the essence of his name..."

"B-But Lady Tsunade, that man had a Sharingan! Uzumaki can't possibly have one seeing as the bodies from the Uchiha massacre was burned, and Sasuke Uchiha took his brothers eyes!"

"It is safe to assume he is a seal-master greater than Jiraiya was... A simple illusion seal should be within the realm of possibility when it comes to him."

"It's still pretty far-fetched though, especially when you think about the fact that Akatsuki was created at least ten years before the boy was born." A chorus of agreement rose from the other leaders around the table at Onoki's words.

"Are you sure the boy wasn't captured, and this all has simply been a clever ruse to gain enough time to extract the Kyuubi?"

Tsunade closed her eyes as she leaned her head on her folded hands.

"That is always a possibility, but extremely unlikely. During all the missions he has been in before and during the war, Naruto always had a team around him, and we all know the boy would be loud enough to warn his companions."

She opened her eyes and stared at Gaara, the teen still standing beside her with a shaken look on his face.

"Don't worry Gaara. I have already sent out several hunter-teams, and if this actually is just a clever trick from Tobi, we will find Naruto before the Kyuubi gets extracted."

A terse nod was the only response she got as the Kazekage got back to his seat, Temari patting his shoulder.

"Lord Raikage." Onoki said, gaining the man's attention. "If it comes down to it, and the Uzumaki boy actually is a traitor, are your brother willing to fight him?"

The man only closed his eyes, himself unsure of the answer.

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"He's somewhere around here... I think."

"What do you mean 'I think'?"

"Well, sorry for not expecting to lose the war. It's not like he would be important if we won now, would he?"

"You're right, sorry. Oh well, hopefully he will stay loyal once we dig him up."

A certain pair of former Konoha ninja was walking through a forest, looking for the burial place of a still living man.

"Still, did you have to blow him into smithereens? We don't have Kakuzu around anymore to sew him together."

Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh in both frustration and understanding. He knew why Naruto was annoyed about the fact that Hidan would be basically useless until they managed to fix him, and seeing as none of them was adverse in the healing arts, they had found a small snag in their plans.

"I know, I know. With Konan dead and Karin basically useless as a normal medic, we might have a small problem on our hands... Damn, how troublesome it is not having any capable S-class healers around."

"... Wait, can't you just use your shadow-stitching technique and some thick treads to sew him back together?"

He only got a thoughtful nod as an answer which left him somewhat satisfied as they continued to trudge around the forest, Shikamaru looking around with a calculating eye.

Suddenly he stopped.

Naruto instantly knew why he stopped, himself looking around for the individual.

"Well, this will be interesting."

The lazy genius gave a short nod before setting his eyes on a specific point to their right side, glaring hard at a certain tree.

"What shall we do with him?"

Naruto only gave a small smirk at the mumbled question.

"Let's toy with him a bit. Don't let your guard down though, he's gotten pretty strong throughout the years." He raised his voice. "You can come out now Shino!"

A moment later the bug ninja appeared in front of them, a thoughtful frown on his face that was even visible behind his hood, collar and glasses.

"Uzumaki, Nara. May I ask what you are doing out here, in such a time as this to boot?" Something was wrong here. He had heard about the latest assembly of the five major leaders, but he would have expected Naruto to follow Tsunade to the meeting, seeing as he was the next in line to be Hokage.

He really did not like the small smirk the two teens shared. He had been told to deliver a message to one of the villages when he noticed the two of them casually walk around. He thought he was out of their sensing range, but it seems like he was wrong.

'When I think about it, my bugs can barely sense them, even though they are clearly right before me... What is going on?'

"Well Shino, if you have to know then we will tell you. We are looking for a certain individual, but I'm fairly sure that you don't know him. He's also fairly important, and will be a great asset during the ending phases of this war."

The bug-boy looked at the blonde, his gaze like steel as he gauged if the teen told the truth. What was he thinking, of course he did. This was Naruto after all, and he never lied. Heck, even if he did, it's fairly known just how terrible the boy is at lying.

"Seeing as you two are sent, then this person must be quite essential to the war efforts. May I offer my assistance?"

"Yes you may." Shikamaru said, ignoring the look Naruto sent him.

"Your bugs can quite likely sense his chakra, seeing as it's quite unique. Apparently, it feels extremely chaotic, but also... How is the best way to describe it... The chakra basically feels like the aura a corpse releases, decay and disease quite clear in it."

He couldn't help but freeze at the explanation of the chakra. Chaotic he could understand, having been in the vicinity of Naruto and his chakra for some time, but a chakra that radiated death and disease? He had never heard anything like it.

"... I trust Lady Tsunade's decision about finding this person, but I have to say I am somewhat against whatever this person might represent... And my bugs has already found a lead."

The two traitors couldn't help but share a look as they followed the the reserved leaf-ninja, a sense of delight being shared between them since they didn't have to search for much longer.

Five minutes later, Shino stopped and turned around.

"Naruto." Hearing his name mentioned, the blonde turned his attention towards the person they followed, raising an eye-brow at the small amount of confusion in Shino's voice.

"As you probably know, a meeting of the Kages are now happening, so I have to ask. Exactly why aren't you at the meeting? I would have expected Tsunade to take you with her so you could learn some of what being a Hokage means."

'He's a pretty nosy guy. He's probably sensing somethings off.'

"I tell you on the way back. Right now we have to find this man."

For some reason, Naruto felt that wasn't the answer the stoic man was hoping for, evident by the small frustrated tick his finger gained.

"That's the thing though." He finally said as he stretched out his hand, a bug landing on it. "The trail ends here. Not just that, but it actually seems to go underground, directly from where I am now standing..."

"There's something you aren't telling me. Why? Probably because you think the answer will shock me. Now tell me, who are you looking for." It was not a question, it was an order, from chuunin to genin.

Shikamaru sighed before he walked forward, slinging an arm around their enemy's shoulder.

"You troublesome guy. You are right, the answer will shock you. Oh well, since you absolutely have to know..." He gave a dramatic pause as he noticed Shino gave him all his attention.

"We are here to pick up our comrade. You probably know him as Hidan."

Shino froze, pure shock evident on his face, despite his hood, collar and glasses obscuring it. He had heard about the man from the man who stood beside him, and he knew how the man was dispatched.

Then the word 'comrade' penetrated his skull.

Quicker than the two Akatsuki members expected, Shino had jumped through the trees, trying to put as much distance between himself and them. He didn't know if this was some kind of sick joke that the two was playing, but he had to report this to Yamato, the stand-in Hokage while Tsunade was in the meeting.

That was when he heard something that made his heart skip a beat.

Sizzling.

An explosion occurred, covering the form of the Aburame before he shot out of the blast, his smoking form crashing into a tree, creating a large indent on it before he fell down on the ground with a dull thud.

He coughed as he watched Naruto casually walk up to him, that damnable smirk on his face.

"Why... Why did you betray us?" He murmured, pain racking his body as he tried and failed to stand, a snigger escaping the blonde.

"I never betrayed Konoha. Why? Because the village never had my loyality to begin with. My loyality only lies with two people, Shikamaru and Madara."

"But Madara is dead."

Naruto rolled his eyes before he stabbed Shino in the back with a familiar spike, the same type of black spike that Pein used when he invaded Konoha.

"You don't think I know that? One can still give one's loyality to a dead man simply by following that person's beliefs and ideals."

He looked over Shino before summoning another spike, studying it while talking.

"It's a shame really. I would love to have an Aburame as a comrade, but I know you love Konoha to much to betray it. Such a pity."

Shino couldn't tell if Naruto was serious or not, but he didn't have much time to think over that as he was stabbed through his neck, severing the spine and several important nerves, almost instantly killing him.

Naruto only clicked his tongue before taking out the black spikes, teleporting them back to wherever he kept them. A moment later he transported himself to where Shikamaru was waiting, the man using his shadows to remove the dirt.

"Well that was disappointing. He didn't even send his bugs on me, but then again, he probably knew I simply had too much chakra for them to absorb, so I can't really hold that against him."

Shikamaru only rolled his eyes as his shadows continued to prod around inside the dirt, occasionally pulling out a part of Hidan's body.

"Doesn't really matter what he believed, one should always go all out against an opponent from the start. If you don't, then you might as well just let them kill you."

"True."

A silence ensued as Hidan's torso was ripped from the ground, malnutrition somewhat clear on the nigh-immortal man.

"You really did a number on him you know..."

The shadow-master could only give a sheepish shrug. "I might have went overboard on the explosive notes."

"You don't say." Came the mumbled reply as Naruto couldn't help but rub his face in annoyance, the muffled shouting from Hidan finally being heard.

"-WILL GAIN THE FORGIVENESS OF JASHIN WHEN I SACRIFICE YOU HEATENS!"

Naruto stared passively at the screaming head of the albino that hung from one of Shikamaru's shadows. His patience though was not as high as it once was, seeing as his loss still plagued his mind.

"Hidan, shut up, or I will crush your head into mush so slowly that you will feel nothing but unending agony." To prove his point he grabbed the head before applying enough pressure to make hair-line fractures on the man's skull, the scream of the Jashinist permeating the air.

"Alright, alright! What do you fuckers want?"

"Do you know who I am?"

"Fuck if I know! Kakuzu, where the fuck are you?!"

A small snarl entered the blondes face as he once again applied pressure, silencing the raving lunatic.

"Your partner was disposed of. He was expendable anyway, seeing as he was less of an immortal than you. Plus, he was planning on betraying me anyway, so I saw my chance to get rid of him when you were attacked by my partner here."

As Naruto turned Hidan's head so he could see Shikamaru he expected a lot. Well, he expected mainly screaming, cursing and some more blabber about Jashin. He was extremely surprised though when after the briefest of glares sent towards the Nara, Hidan actually got a look of concentration on his face.

"Your voice, it's familiar..."

"Oh, is it?" Naruto had to admit he was pleasantly surprised seeing that the man actually had a semblance of a brain. "Well then, who do you think I am"?

Hidan closed his eyes for a bit, trying to place the voice. He suddenly got a surprised look before he stared into Naruto's eyes, the blonde having raised the head to eye-level.

"The way you pronounce the words, and the way your voice flows... But the octave is different... Tobi?"

Okay, that does it. Hidan was actually pretty smart when he actually used that grey-pink mass of flesh inside his skull.

"Impressive. You are actually one of the few people that managed to guess my identity, and all you had was my voice. Seems like that hidden village Hot Spring Country used to have actually made some capable ninjas."

"Heh, lord Jashin always felt there was something weird about you... WAIT A FUCKING SECOND, AREN'T YOU THE FUCKING NINE-TAILED HOST?" He screamed, finally placing Naruto's appearance as Naruto couldn't help but sigh in annoyance from the man's screeching.

"Okay. First, shut up. Second, yes, I am the container of Kyuubi. I guess that your next question is 'What the sodding fuck are you doing here?' I was Akatsuki's real leader, Pein being my pawn. After Pein's death, we entered a war and lost, so my first plan is to gain some allies. Seeing as you are an able member from the former Akatsuki, I will ask you once more to help me with my goal."

A bout of silence ensued as Shikamaru had gone to gather Shino, knowing that Naruto would call him in case of an emergency. It only took a moment for Hidan to begin laughing in his normal arrogant manner, the news, while shocking, exhilarating him.

"Holy shit, this is fucking ridiculous! Why the hell would I want to join your heretic organization again?"

"Two reasons." Naruto said, the tone of voice he used actually chilling Hidan a bit. "One, if you do not accept I will put a seal on you so you will feel nothing but ever-lasting torment as you lie in this hole and rot. When you die, the seal ensues that you will forever be the death-gods play-thing."

"Two, if you join, then you will, once my plans are set in fruition, have a lot of sacrifices that your lord might appreciate... Of course, we have to put you back together again, and it might take some time before you can run around and slaughter people, but in the end it WILL be worth it." The second reason was given with a somewhat carefree voice which, if the albino had to be honest, was even more frightening than the originally cold voice.

"I... How long will it take before I can once again give Jashin my offerings?"

"A month, and that is the absolute latest."

"What about the tailed beasts? What happened to them?"

"... The statue was destroyed, releasing the seven demons we had sealed inside of it. My plan to resurrect the ten-tails is forever lost."

"Why? Can't you just make another statue?" The look Naruto gave him was a look one gave to a particularly ignorant child.

"I would love to, but the statue was actually Juubi's empty husk which was teleported from inside the moon to here several years before I was born. A man who went by the alias of 'The Sage Of The Six Paths' once sealed Juubi inside of him, and upon his death-bed, he split Juubi's chakra into nine beings, the beings we know as the tailed beasts. The carcass of the original beast he sealed inside the moon."

Okay, Hidan had to admit he was impressed, a feat that was pretty hard to accomplish.

He also couldn't deny that the deal itself wasn't half-bad, and he could not care less about the overall goal as long as he gained some sacrifices for his god in the end.

"Fine, you win. I will re-join Akatsuki."

He instantly regretted his decision, seeing the absolutely terrifying look on the man he once knew as Tobi's face. Why did he suddenly feel like he had made a deal with the devil?

"Welcome back Hidan. Shikamaru, seal away the two bodies, I will carry the head."

"Hey, where are we going?" The religious person asked as he watched the pine-apple headed traitor seal away his own mangled body along with another person's corpse.

"We have to make haste towards Wind Country. Hopefully, no rumors has begun to spread, and we actually find someone who will put you back together." The Nara said, throwing the sealed scroll at Naruto who caught it.

"Hmm, I think I know the one who might help us." The blonde said, for once earning a questioning stare from his decidedly best friend.

"Who?"

"Why, the resident puppet-master of course."

"Are you sure he's not with Gaara at the meeting?"

Naruto couldn't help but snort. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Gaara most likely has Temari and Baki with him, leaving Kankuro as Wind Country's strongest defense while Gaara is away."

"Hmm, true... Damn, it's a shame Chiyo and Sasori are dead, they were both pretty good medics. Plus, they wouldn't be squeamish when it comes to sewing a body together."

"Yes, and with Kabuto and Zetsu out there, we have to be extra careful not to attain any attention... Oh well, one can't always get what one wants. Plus, this makes everything much more interesting."

Hidan just kept quiet as the duo talked between each other, himself trying to preserve energy as the entire ordeal had made him somewhat tired, which is something to expect seeing as he hasn't eaten anything in Jashin knows how long.

One thing was for sure though, this would be much more interesting than trudging along with Kakuzu in search for bounties belonging to pathetic ninjas.


	4. Sand in my pants

**AN: It's official, I love this story. *5 minutes later* Fuck everything.**

**I'm a busy, busy bee, and like a busy, busy bee I have basically no free-time. Managed to hammer out a chapter for this story though, so that's great. No, Wandering Trainer is not abandoned, I am simply trying to focus on my old stories. I am NOT going to start a new story before I have finished any of my old ones. I might WRITE new stories, but not post them.**

**LET'S START!**

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"You two really did mess this guy right up I have to say. This guy was malnourished too as far as I can see, so why you two had such problems you had to cut him up like this I can't say." The black-colored, jumpsuit wearing form of Kankuro said as the many parts of Hidan, including the man's head was lying on an operating table inside a random room in Suna's hospital.

"Ehh, what can we say? The guy just didn't want to stand still, and we wanted this to be over as fast as possible." Naruto said, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders at the step-in Kazekage's words, something which made a minor frown form on the man's face.

'This war really hit him hard.' The puppeter though, glancing at the blonde teen. He never thought he would ever hear the blonde dismiss a life so casually, but he couldn't expect the blonde to be innocent and doe-eyed his entire life.

'Once it's all over, he'll become better. He just need time, as do we all.' Shaking his head slightly he once again focused on the corpse, missing the glance the blonde sent him.

"Why were you guys in the area by the way?" Kankuro asked, curiosity lacing his voice.

"Honestly? We heard a few rumors that Kabuto might strike here with some of his undead minions. We found this guy on the way, and decided to fill Konoha's pockets a bit since the chance was there." The Nara's words sated the brown-haired man's curiosity, the man still prodding the technically dead man's body, Hidan thankfully enough being completely silent and still for once.

"I have to replace a few bits. Mostly just small chunks and a few fingers and toes, nothing major. You hit him with a few exploding tags too, didn't you?" He asked nonchalantly, missing the minor twitch on the albino's face and the smirking face of the pair behind him.

"Yah, a few lucky hits here and there managed to slow him enough."

Nodding his head, the puppeteer stood up fully, a thoughtful release of breath sounding as he stared at nothing for a moment, collecting his random ideas.

"It's a fairly easy operation. I'll sew back what I can, then simply replace what is missing with some chakra-wood, then put a false layer of skin over that again. Should trick the bounty collectors, and shouldn't take longer than an hour in all honesty. Done heftier work than this on the same amount of time."

"Good to hear." The demon-container said, him and his partner moving towards the door. "We'll wait in the lobby while you do your magic, okay?"

"Sure, I work better in silence anyway." The man replied, having already started sewing together the mass-murderer's body parts.

Closing the door behind him, Shikamaru let out a small sigh before his eyes settled on the blonde who rested nonchalantly on a chair.

"So, what are we to do now?"

A completative release of breath was the answer the blonde gave his partner as they sat in relative silence, waiting for the puppet master Kankuro to fix the 'corpse' of Hidan.

"That's the question now, isn't it." The blonde finally said after a minute of silence. "I do have a few ideas, though as we are now, they are mostly out of our reach." He licked his lips, leaning back in his seat as he closed his eyes.

"Waiting for the resurrection of the one-to-eight tails are useless, as recreating the Gedo Mazo is impossible, since the one we used was the original husk of the ten-tails. We might, only might be able to recreate it with the Rinnegan's 'Creation of all things' ability, but I highly doubt that... The Uchiha and his buddies are currently who knows where, and using Kakashi for the stone is basically useless, since he will obviously lie about everything he reads there." Here he raised his arm, touching the eyelid of one of his closed eyes.

"There are only five Sharingan eyes currently around, and getting any of them won't be easy. I won't deny that Sasuke and his gang are actually a decent threat, Sasuke being on a steady level of a Kage, while his male buddies are easily as strong as seasoned Jounin. Even the girl is at a Chuunin level, and her sensoring abilities will make any sneak attacks we plan useless. I can take Sasuke on my own easily, as he won't use Susanno before it's already to late." He clenched his fist, a minute frown forming.

"Kakashi is even harder to get, having entered the level of a Kage after his training when my clone was gone with Jiraiya, and he will always be surrounded by other Konoha nin. Plus, that barrier that surrounds the village is nigh impossible to get through without being detected." Here he sighed as he dropped his hand, his frown deepening slightly.

"And at last we have none other than Madara... Zetzu know where he is, so did Tobi, though none of them managed to tell me why, and Tobi had to of course destroy his own body before giving me the honor of continuing his plan. A silly plan really, projecting an infinite Tsukuyomi onto the moon, disregarding all the obvious flaws, the biggest one being the day and night cycle our world is constantly going through. Nothing short of stopping our world AND the moon from moving can make that large flaw go away. Then we have the lunar phases, how will that react with the illusion? Then we have clouds, covering the moon. Plus, what if we simply never look up at the moon, will the illusion take place then? There are more flaws of course, but I digress."

A frustrated sigh left the Nara, his mind running a thousand miles a second, yet coming up blank.

"So basically, either we get a Sharingan, or we are fucked." Naruto couldn't help but laugh at his friend's words, though there was definitely a mocking tone to it, which annoyed Shikamaru to no end.

"You really believe that everything is over simply because we might not have a solid plan?"

The blonde's body shook in mirth at his partner's glare.

"Shikamaru, who am I? I am Madara's unofficial legacy, the container of the most powerful chakra construct since the ten-tails itself, and I am the son of two powerful people. Plus, what was my surprisingly accurate moniker?"

"The knucklehead ninja?" The Nara snickered, the strange calmness Naruto often exuded lifting his spirit somewhat.

"Har de har. I was pointing towards the 'most surprising' part. Plus, with my ungodly luck, I'll probably stumble upon Madara's last hideout anyway."

"Yeah, probably." Yet, the Nara couldn't help but be concerned, despite feeling calmer.

"... What if the stone is worthless?"

"Then that is what it is, worthless." The blonde's morose words cutting the silence, his blue eyes shifting over to his partner. "My theory is that the stone will tell us about the Rinnegan, and how to achieve it. It is either an Uzumaki only bloodline, or the previous Tobi did seriously give Nagato his Rinnegan..." An angry sigh here left the boy, a sneer forming on his whiskered face.

"Of course Konan was smart enough to replace Nagato's eyes with a false pair of eyes, destroying the original pair. She probably had already predicted that I would come after her due to her betrayal. A perfect pair of Rinnegan eyes, gone because of her paranoid nature... AHH!" He punched the wall behind him, cracking it slightly as his eyes turned red.

"I had them before me! I believed that Nagato would never come to his senses, but that bitch managed to wake him up from his spiraling madness. And when my clone appeared before them, he dared to resurrect those he had killed, and then she left with his corpse! I lost the Rinnegan due to a fucking fluke!" His hands turned to fists, his hands cracking slightly due to the pressure.

"And then Zetzu betrayed me! That waste of Senju genes DARED to go against me! And then he joined Kabuto who attacked me, he joined Kabuto of all people!" He rubbed his face with both of his hands, a shuddering breath leaving him as he tried to calm down.

"You have no idea how close to death I came that day. The only reason I survived Kabuto's onslaught was because I fatally hurt him, forcing him to retreat along with Zetzu... And then Konoha appeared, and you know how that went."

The Nara nodded. "You revealed yourself... Why?"

"I was basically empty of Chakra, I had to buy time." A smirk was sent the genius's way. "What better way to regain a tiny bit of Chakra than to give them the shock of their lives. Plus, how can they know that it simply wasn't a ruse from 'Tobi?' How can they know that 'I' wasn't captured already?" A huff left him, the tiniest pout visible. "Of course, they destroyed my lovely Gedo Mazo, so the Tailed Beasts will be after my ass now, and once they're back, they'll probably reveal the man behind the mask anyway since they sensed Kyuubi's Youki within me."

"The eight tails then... How long do you think it'll take?" The Nara cursed himself for not having researched more about the tailed beasts, having focused on other subjects.

"Hmm, I'll say about two years. Give or take a month or two, but two years sounds right. He's the most mentally stable beast out there, so he'll probably manage to pull himself together the fastest."

"Two years to obtain a Sharingan in other words."

"Yes." Naruto gave a nod to his partners summary. "Two years to obtain a Sharingan."

A silence bloomed between them as they waited, the occasional nurse strutting past them, though none of them seemed to notice the duo.

Looking out at the village from one of the windows, Naruto couldn't help but frown.

'Everything is going wrong. I was so close, and then it all slipped from my grasp.' He withheld a grunt as he rubbed his chest slightly. 'Kyuubi's not done healing me either, even after thirty-six hours. Kabuto and his cronies have no idea how close they actually got to killing me.'

Sighing, he rubbed his forehead, trying to lessen the constant headache he had suffered from after Kabuto's betrayal.

'Whatever, I'll deal with him later. Where oh where would Sasuke be most likely to go... Konoha is likely, as he still wants to destroy that place after they forced his 'dear' brother to do... Damn bastard rigging his Amaterasu to try and kill me. I do have to wonder though why he didn't resurrect the Uchiha prodigy. Do Kabuto somehow know something which I do not?'

With a tsk he glanced at the door to where Kankuro worked. 'Suna, Iwa and Kumo are an automatic bust since they have done nothing to earn his ire yet. He might go to Kiri though due to the fact that the country is still in a state of distress after Tobi's civil war. He'll keep away from Nami due to the fact that it's quite literally useless to him... He might go to Yuki due to their technological advances, or maybe Tetsu due to their abundance of Chakra metal... I feel like I'm missing something.'

"Kiri, Yuki and Tetsu." The Nara glanced at him, his face questioning. "Those are the countries Sasuke might go to, yet I can't help but feel that I am forgetting something... Maybe Ame, since that country has lost their leader after Konan died... What am I forgetting?" He sighed, somewhat annoyed due to his lapse in memory.

"Ame... That is actually a pretty good village for Kabuto to take over." The shadow user mused, Naruto grunting, acknowledging the truth of that statement. "The other countries though, I can't say I agree with..." Another sigh left the blonde at that. Seems like he's developing a habit.

"Damn that guy, having become so hard to track after he killed... Orochimaru... That is where he'll probably go, back to Oto." A wry grin spread across his face. "Why didn't I think of that before? Oto is currently leaderless. Sasuke needs an army if he wants to destroy Konoha, and Oto is filled to the brim with bloodthirsty brutes just waiting for a leader to reign them in."

"We're not going to let Sasuke have Oto, are we?" It was a rhetoric question of course, but the pineapple headed man still had to ask.

"Of course I'm not going to let Sasuke have my new reserve plan." His grin widened as he leaned forward in his seat. "Say, what do you say about getting the prodigious position of head scientist?"

"..." The Nara's face got blank for a moment before his eyes lighted up. "You're going to start up Orochimaru's experiments, aren't you?" The widening grin the blonde sported cemented his decision. "So, do I sign on the dotted line to accept?"

"The best part is that we have a test subject that will survive anything you'll do to him." Now his grin turned downright sinister, his eyes flashing red for a moment, Kyuubi apparently being quite delighted at the prospect.

"So, Hidan just went from a potential partner to a lab-rat... Oh well, can't really complain. Can I at least sew his mouth shut first?"

"If you want..." His smile disappeared, and a small scowl appeared on his face, his eyes flitting towards the window.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked, readying himself just in case.

"I feel a massive chakra source, tainted just the tiniest bit by a tailed beast... Gaara is back from wherever he was, and he's not happy, his chakra is constantly fluctuating."

"He probably already know that we are here, doesn't he?"

The blonde nodded. "If he doesn't already know, then it won't take long before he actually do. The desert is his ally after all, so I would be surprised if he hasn't sensed us since everything is covered with a hair-thin layer of sand." Here the door to the medical room was opened, a satisfied looking Kankuro wiping his hands after the operation.

"Well, the body is basically back to normal. Kinda happy you guys saturated the wounds, made it easier for me to attach the old and new parts."

"Thanks man, you're really a life-saver." The blonde sent a smile towards the puppeteer, standing from the chair. "Can I ask for another small favor from you?"

A nonchalant shrug was his answer. "Depends what it is, I am kinda busy, and if there actually comes some resurrected people here, I have to warn the defense."

"Don't worry, it's nothing hard or time-consuming. It'll take a minute, and that's maximum." The blonde said, his hand clasping the older man's shoulder.

"Fine, what is it?" Why did that smile set of alarm in his head? Why was his shoulder disappearing?

"I need your body."

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"What do you think Gaara? Do you think they're right, or are they actually..." The blonde pigtailed girl sighed at the end, a small pang of sadness rising up in her chest.

The red-headed leader continued his mute existence, riding morosely on a cloud of sand, though his mind was constantly focusing on one particular subject.

"And then that supposed clone he had used to trick us all. Several bodies worth of flesh, blood and... A baby soul? Sorry, but I can't believe that. Naruto might have turned a bit cynical lately, but so have we all. Personally, I think he was kidnapped by Tobi, or Madara, or whatever his name is, and Konoha is simply showing their true colors."

Gaara though was resolutely ignoring her as the two of them entered their beloved village, the people greeting them in happiness, the ninja either bowing or saluting.

"And then that mask they supposedly fixed. Just because it's orange and somewhat swirly doesn't mean that it's Naruto damn it! Talk about narrow-minded buffoons, and then they tried to trick us with that false recorder. If Naruto knew what they were trying to do, he would-" Here Gaara raised his hand, silencing his sister.

"Someone is in the village, someone I do not know... They're together with Kankuro, my sand can feel it... Wait, where did..." Eyes widening slightly, he quickly disappeared in a small sand-tornado, his sister lost as to why he left.

'He's going towards the hospital...'

As the Kazekage appeared inside the medical center, he quickly honed in on where the intruders were hiding. As he came to the room, shuffling could be heard from within, and silent curses were sent now and then.

"Ahh, welcome Lord Kazekage." A deep voice said behind him. Without moving a muscle, a sand-whip was sent towards the man, only for the minerals to phase right through the person.

"Now, that was a pretty rude welcome I have to say."

As Gaara turned around, he looked upon a cloak-covered individual. Of course, due to the man's somewhat unique voice and ability, he instantly knew who it was despite his shadowed face.

"What are you doing here Madara?" The red-head's raspy voice echoed, sand lazily swirling around him. He could sense that the other two intruders with the man was quickly fleeing the village, leaving behind the mastermind behind the whole war.

"Yes, what am I doing here. By the look on your face, you have gotten some ill news, am I right? Perhaps a little sad about the Kyuubi vessel which that lovely Senju woman so adores?"

"So I was right." The sand swirled faster, more agitated. "You actually did manage to kidnap him. Probably during that last skirmish sometime before they found you." The corridor was slowly turning brown, sand covering the entire place. Naruto idly noticed that there wasn't a single nurse nearby.

"But that is not the greatest reason for my anger. Where is my brother? Tell me, or I will make you suffer a fate worse than any demon-container has ever lived through."

"You will make me suffer?" The mocking one the man bore was evident even for a child. Slowly he walked towards the sand-user, casually walking through the occacional piece of sand.

"How can you make me suffer when you cannot even touch me?" A sand-whip tried to bisect him, though it merely phased right through the man. Shaking his head in apparent amusement, his hand created a hand-sign.

"Silly fool, I will show you a real attack!" His hands being a blur, they quickly settled on the tiger seal as the man took a deep breath.

'Fire style: Great fire destruction!' A stream of fire left the man's hood, quickly rushing and covering the entire corridor, Gaara hidden by the flames. Quickly rushing through another set of hand signs, he took another breath.

'Wind style: Vacuum great sphere!' A massive, condenced air-bullet fillet the hallway, fanning the flames on the way before hitting a barrier, blowing up the walls, floor and ceiling where it hit, destroying a part of the hospital. A few seconds passed, when suddenly several shards of glass passed through the intangible man.

'Interesting, he can actually control the glass as long as it was previously infused with his chakra.'

"Do you believe it is wise to fight me in here?" The man asked, slowly walking away from the still unseen sand user as the fire seemed to move out of his way.

"No answer? Fine. As the saying goes, those who stay silent agrees, or however that old proverb goes." Taking out a scroll from a pocket, he quickly unfurled it only to summon a battle-fan. Phasing through a wall, he quickly jumped atop the roof of a building, running through hand-signs.

'Fire style: Great fire annihil-' Before he got the attack off, he was swamped by a wave of sand, the now pissed off Kazekage floating in the sky, staring at him with hateful teal eyes. Jumping out of the sand, he landed on another roof, regarding the floating teen.

'He's observant, having already noticed that I need to become tangible to use my techniques... Still.' Making a tiger seal, he swiftly sent a massive fireball towards the leader, empowering the flame with a gust of wind from his fan. Running through another set of handsigns, he turned towards the hospital.

'Fire style: Great fire annihilation!' As he blew, a massive wall of flame spread across the sky, heading towards the medical building. With a swing of his fan, the flames grew and covered the entire building, the fire almost turning blue due to the heat.

Blinking, he looked at his hand where a glass-shard was lodged, mildly surprised that he actually turned intangible slightly too late.

'Seems like Gaara's not the only one who needs to improve his multi-tasking skills.' Staring at the now eerily calm red-head, he had to give praise where it was due. The man had improved since he fought against Deidara over a year ago. Slowly, the red-head made a hand-sign, only for an alarm to start blarring. Gaara didn't even twitch at the sound as the civilians fleed inside whatever building was nearby, the ninja's also taking cover, the entire village silent as a grave less than a minute later.

"I was going to kill you quickly once you told me everything I wanted, but now you have made me angry." Creating another hand-seal, something Naruto did not foresee happened.

"Quicksand waterfall flow."

The sand around the entire village rose quickly, covering the houses of people in mere seconds and still rising. After a minute, even the mountains and walls surrounding the village was covered, leaving behind a massive desert leading further than the eye could see.

"Sand hail." The monotone man continued, a sandstorm starting, a constant barrage of bullets being shot towards the fan-wielding man.

"How long could you hold that technique of yours again... Ten minutes was it? I have to visit Konan's grave after this battle it seems." A wall of sand blocked the battle-fan that was thrown at him, another wall of sand blocking the incoming kick from the phasing man. A moment later he covered himself completely, barely resisting the fire-stream that was sent at him while his enemy retrieved his fan.

'Wind style: Infinite sand cloud – Great breakthrough.' Naruto quickly ran away from the angry man, constantly jumping to a new spot as the massive gust of sand-powered wind blew away whatever footing was underneath him.

'I've had enough.' Quickly summoning a clone, the two of them rushed through two different hand-signs as they speed towards the floating man, still under the constant barrage of sand bullets and now sand-arms. About a hundred feet away, the two of them jumped in the air, closing in on the sand-master.

'Fire style: Searing migraine!' 'Wind style: Pressure damage!' The two techniques merged together, creating a massive firestorm that covered everything in a two-hundred feet radius in the searing hot flames. Due to the sandstorm, it only took a few seconds to snuff out the flames, though when Gaara lowered his sand-shield, he smelled a strange scent.

A moment later his form was covered in an explosion, as the inflammable gas from the 'Fire style: Mist blaze dance technique' was lit from a small fireball courtesy of a slightly damaged Naruto, having been hit by a few sand bullets to send off his attacks. His eyes didn't leave the smokescreen though, as the sandstorm hadn't faded yet. With good reason too, as now, multiple shards of glass was constantly swirling around him, joining the infinite chaos that surrounded him.

"Sand binding prison!" The more than usually hoarse voice of the Kazekage roared, gigantic tentacles constantly enveloping Naruto, continually passing around and through him, the occacional glass-shard passing through him too. Suddenly, a hole was created underneath him, making him lose consentration for a moment, the sand grabbing him at that moment, surrounding him and burying him.

Gaara took that small window.

"Sand waterfall imperial funeral!" With that roar, the entire sand sea condenced and constricted to a ridiculous degree, the cloaked man buried underneath the sand when it happened, crushing him due to his lapse in consentration.

Over a minute passed as the tired and hurt form of the Kazekage gazed across the battlefield, still floating on a cloud of sand. Wincing, he clutched his face and chest with his arms, the brunt from the last explosion having hit there.

"It's over." He whispered, sensing the mutilated corpse of the man far underneath his sand. Letting up his sandstorm, the temporary desert began to flow away, revealing the mountains, then the buildings, and finally the semi-paved roads. Lying on the street was the still bleeding corpse of the infamous warmonger, drawing an unconcious sneer from Gaara.

Stumbling towards the body, he soon stared down at it, the man lying face down on the ground. Nudging the body with his foot, his foot quickly broke through the outer layer of the body, the corpse slowly crumbling into pebbles.

'Impossible!' Summoning forth his sand shield again, he was just too late to block the battle-fan, the edge of it cutting into his face, slicing one of his eyes, a scream of pain leaving the red-head as he sent several tendrils of sand towards the slightly panting warmonger. It was easily dispersed with a single swing of his re-summoned fan, the wind sending the village leader tumbling backwards.

"You could have simply let me leave, Gaara of the sand." Naruto strode towards the struggling form of Gaara, quickly closing in on him. "I gave you the chance to let me leave willingly, and none of this would have happened, but you have elected the way of pain!" Raising his fan, he brought it down on the man's head, only for it to be stopped by another fan. He quickly jumped back from a hefty swing, sneering at the blonde girl before him.

"You shall not touch him!" Temari declared, opening her fan. Several soft thuds was heard shortly after, several squads of Chuunin and Jounin surrounding the shrouded man. An angry sigh left him before he chuckled.

"Fine. I have already got what I came here for plus more."

"No, don't let him go, he has Kankuro!" Temari stiffled her gasp at that before glaring at Naruto.

"Take him down!" With that order, every shinobi rushed him with their weapons drawn.

'Fools.' He groused, slowly going through hand-signs as they constantly passed through him. At the last hand-sign he jumped up high, smirking at the blast of wind sent his way courtesy of Temari.

'Fire style: Great dragon fire technique!' Several massive dragon-shaped fire-missiles was sent towards the ninjas and surrounding structures, their size and power enforced by Temari's attack, exploding on impact, killing several squads and destroying several houses. Naruto capitalized on the slight pause, running through another set of hand-signs.

'Wind style: Stream.' Swinging his fan hard, a massive gust of wind appeared, shrouding the surroundings in another blanket of sand.

"No, he is getting away!" Gaara yelled, trying his best to locate the warmonger despite the man's chakra saturating the air, messing with his control of sand.

"Cyclone scythe!" A massive gust of wind appeared, Temari manipulating it to send the sand away.

When it cleared though, the man was nowhere to be seen.

"He's just outside the village, we-we have to-" Here Gaara collapsed, Temari catching him before he hit the ground, staring towards the mountains surrounding the village.

"He's got Kankuro and Naruto..." Temari could only hug her brother, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

"We'll get them back Gaara." She took in a shuddering breath.

"We'll get them back, I promise."


End file.
